Pray, Paint, Run, Repeat

Month: May 2010

…….but, please don’t break me! About ten years ago, I was told about a mother whose child had just turned 18. After a celebratory birthday dinner, obviously she wanted to make a point. She held a dish high above the kitchen floor before she let it come crashing down to shatter in a million pieces. “That is the last meal I will ever cook!” She snarled.

I’ve been thinking a lot about plates lately. I love it when I set out five or more……That means that Annie and Christopher are here. When Hannah is here there are four. Tonight there are seven plates ready for when Peyton’s friends, Eddie, Levi, Chris and Zachary are here. The kitchen never closes on nights like these……even though Tom and I are asleep long before the last piece of pizza or ice cream is gone.

There won’t be any plates broken around here, at least not on purpose. Besides, our everyday dishes are made of tin.

It was so much fun being with Peyton and his classmates today. Some of them had never been to El Mercado before and they all loved it. We saw an exhibit at El Museo Alameda and then were free to explore some of the sights in downtown San Antonio. The kids sang happy Birthday on the bus on the way back. Thank you my precious husband for this tribute to Peyton…..Happy 18th Birthday,Peyton! Click here to see Thomas Peyton Parish

I am not really superstitious, but the other day, I was looking at a really cool necklace that Christopher bought in Port Aransas when he was in high school. I was tempted to use some of the beads for other necklaces, but thought it might spread the bad karma …..He was wearing it when he got in a serious car wreck that week end.Yes, I still have it, but I am not even going to post a photo of it. Here is another one instead that I wear……

one of my favorites

and……..you will NOT believe this, but I have Peyton as a witness. Just this minute Stevie Wonder came on the TV singing “Call me superstitious”. CREEPY!!!!

On Sunday afternoon, Peyton had new video games to check out and Tom had the long lush grass to manicure, so Hannah and I had fun sifting through tons of beads of all sizes and colors trying to decide on a combination for the perfect necklace. She had made a bracelet for her Mom on Mother’s Day and has been looking forward to crafting another piece of jewelry. I was glad to take a break from painting to make this necklace for the owl charm that Tom found for me at the bead expo a few weeks ago.

another owl for the owlaholic

On Saturday, we all went thrift store shopping and I found a colorful string of beads that I used to make a new strand for my Avery owl that Christopher gave me.

my Avery owl from Christopher

I have made several bracelets from old charms and earrings.

vintage horse charm

I had a beautiful gold charm bracelet that my Mom had given me…….I remember every charm that was on it. One was from her trip to Nassau with a crazy lady and the most special one was a Saint Christopher medal with a tiny diamond and the date was engraved on the back. It was stolen at a yard sale. It was not part of the sale. This horse head inside the horse shoe is all that is left because it had not been added yet.

"Mi Amor" from Christopher

Christopher found this wonderful hand painted pendant with mi amor carved in the leather.

por mi novio

I made this necklace for Tom. He gets compliments constantly. I had to slap some hoe the other day who wouldn’t keep her paws off of it.

some of my favorite critters

Not sure if these show up, they all are special to me. We have all of these critters running around the place. The little tortoise charm fell off at my sister-in-law, Moye’s house one day. That is just like our real live 80 pound tortoise Fast Eddie to take off like that, and he did one day. So glad they were both found. Our real Miss Piggy won’t be going anywhere, she knows a good thing when she tastes it……as a matter of fact, it is brunch time. Gotta go slop the hogs. Adios and thanks for reading!

I heard about John and Bev for months before I met either of them. I knew that they both loved dogs and art that was enough of things in common for a start. The first time Bev and I met for lunch it lasted for four hours. She cried when I told her that my Mom’s 17 year old pup had died. Since that first meeting just a few years ago, Bev has lost a daughter, a beloved older dog and a puppy.

puppy sighs

She has been through countless surgeries and has never wavered in her strength through any of her tragedies. We had a wonderful evening with John and Bev just a week ago

The incredible Green Egg

and celebrated their new life with two beautiful, intelligent Cocker Spaniel puppies.

Got ribs?

Am I being good, Mom?

May we all enjoy our loves and passions without moderation, of-course.

I am so used to running with my iPod that I almost can’t run without it. The fact is doing anything without music is not nearly as uplifting or relaxing depending on the mood. The music on the radio is generally so repetitive that after a while I would rather turn it off. I never knew that there are actually so many incredible musicians out there that the average person like me would never have heard of them if not for an excellent source of information listed in the website harmondrive.com .Thanks to these folks, I have bought countless CD’s and iTunes hits that I knew I had to have. I am able to preview singles before I commit to buying and this has saved me from spending money on something I will never listen to. I would have never traveled to Chicago and invested in a ticket to Lollapalooza if harmondrive had not introduced me to some of the talent that would be there. Just like you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, you can’t tell what a song is like unless you listen……..Just sayin’

There are smart dogs and there are not so smart dogs. My little black Pomeranian, Spooky, is street smart or in this case country road smart. My four pups and I usually set out by 6:30 for our morning walk to beat the heat. On Monday we missed our early morning window of time, but were able to set out around 11:30. Big difference. Before we even got to one mile, Spooky, the independent one of the group, plopped down with a loud squeal on the side of the road and stayed there until I picked her up and carried her home. I was glad for the early warning because all five of us might have had a heat stroke if not for Stoopy, I mean Spooky!………Hello 100 degrees……Welcome to Texas.

Daddy Bub gave me a cute little Kodak several years ago. I was in the mood to paint something blue. These little vanity folding cameras came in several colors, but this is the only one in our collection.

Nacho was not there. We missed the lucha (fight), but we were libre (free) after dropping Peyton and Hannah off to the Omni in San Antonio for a dinner/dance. We had fun deciding where to go and what to do. We barely made it home before our 0ne am curfew when Peyton was due home. Leicaman has documented our night out on the town, including my thrilling brush with fame! I can’t stop wondering who all those masked marvels could be!

Running at the park in Floresville has been a regular routine for the last 14 years. The running path used mostly by walkers, is flat and shaded by Pecan and Oak trees. I have seen various birds through the years, but just within the last few weeks, there has been a beautiful Bluejay. I assumed that it was a male, but I have read that the females look similar. Both parents build the nest and care for the young. Read more about them here